October 14, 2023, 1:48 PM IST
Today, when even the smallest towns in India are seeing a proliferation of film festivals, it may seem strange that it took the world 37 years of filmmaking to figure out the need and usefulness of a film festival. The credit for pioneering that idea goes not to any film maker or cinephile but to a dictator. In the 1930s, Benito Mussolini guided a host of cinema promotion initiatives in Italy. These included setting up Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the first film school outside the Soviet Union; and Cinecittà Studios, the (then) world’s biggest film production facility.
But even before these two institutions got under way, Mussolini had envisioned the world’s first film festival and created it under the stewardship of his former finance minister. The fact that all three institutions have thrived through nearly a century of political, economic and social upheavals in Italy and are still going strong, is a great tribute not just to that vision, but also to the abiding love for cinema that comes naturally to the Italian people. The list of the movies premiered over the years and the film personalities who have participated in this festival, formally called Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica includes everybody who is somebody in world cinema.
Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito (1957) and Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001) are the only two films from India to have won the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest prize given to a film.
The festival is held in one of the islands of Venice, a city that, thanks to its canals, is like no other city in the world. It seems to float on water and its medieval era buildings have a unique old-world charm. The Grand Canal is the town’s main highway and its tributaries go into every locality and neighbourhood of the city, including office blocks, banks, cinema theatres, schools, hospitals and even private backyards where they become the household’s boat garage.
So for travelling from one place to another, one walks to a boat station, cruises through the canals and then again walks from the jetty to one’s destination. Barring a few exceptions, everybody and everything in downtown Venice moves through these canals: office goers, school children, tourists, cops, ambulances, hawkers, supplies, everything. There are no cars and therefore no taxi cabs. For those who don’t like the idea of public boats, private boat taxis are an option. My hotel was providing one from its courtyard. But they are expensive. The ride to the airport costs 100 Euros.
Venice, of course, comprises over a hundred islands and the specific location of the festival is the serene and upmarket island of Lido. So if one is staying in Venice proper, one has to take a boat to Santa Maria Elisabetta boat station. From opposite the jetty, Mostra runs a special, free bus service to the festival campus which is situated on a 99-acre landmass between the sea and the lagoon making for breathtaking views on all sides.
The tranquility of the venue is preserved by a ‘no automobile’ policy. For those looking for a faster way of traversing the festival campus, free cycles are provided. I am told the festival director too goes around on a bicycle. The security to the festival is provided by smartly turned out Italian Polizia and Carabinieri but if you follow the rules, there is very little chance that you will notice them. For any major stars who may be safety anxious, Lexus provides a safe ride. But most big stars prefer walking to the red carpet and ordinary people accompany them with great glee.
The festival campus feels like a small university. The only difference is that the buildings dotting it are not academic departments but cinema theatres. Films of the Venice International Film Festival are shown across 10 theatres. The biggest one, Pala Biennale, can seat over 1,700 people. And the incredible part is that it is a temporary structure which is assembled each year before the festival and packed away at the end. But the Pala is not the main venue. That position is occupied by Sala Grande, the 1,000 capacity heritage structure where all major screenings and events are held.
The most moving occasion for me at the festival this year was the conferment of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Tony Leung, best known for his roles played in Wong Kar-wai films such as In the Mood for Love and 2046. Leung made a moving acceptance speech as only star actors can make and everyone loved him for it.
The total capacity of all the theatres of the festival is over 6,000. So if each theatre runs 5 shows daily, 30,000 people are attending the screenings every day. All screening venues are reachable by walk within a maximum of 15 minutes. Delegates and participants of the festival come from every major film making nation. But the tilt is decidedly European. Maybe more so this year due to the SAG-AFTRA strike in the US. Lot of the film audience at the festival are seniors. It is not uncommon to see women and men in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, excitedly entering the auditoria or animatedly discussing the film on their way out.
But cinema screening is only one aspect of the festival. The Venice Production Bridge is a forum that facilitates pitching, funding and distribution of under-production projects. At the Immersive Island one can experience the technologies of tomorrow and the big attraction this year was XR as a means of creative expression including 360° videos. The festival doesn’t feature a lot of Masterclasses but the ones they do are very sought after. Wes Anderson’s Masterclass this year was so packed that many hopefuls were compelled to see it on video screens outside. Anderson speaks very knowledgeably about cinema and at Venice he included warm references to Indian cinema as well.
The screening part of the festival comprises 6 main and pretty diverse sections. As in any other festival, the pride of the place is occupied by the Competition Section, the jury for which at Venice was headed this year by American filmmaker Damien Chazelle. Poor Things, the Emma Stone starring tale of self-discovery directed by Yorgos Lanthimos won the coveted Golden Lion.
One great joy of watching films at Venice is the exemplary audience etiquette. Hardly anyone comes late or leaves early. People queue up for films ahead of time, 15 minutes is normal. A large number of nattily dressed and pleasant looking young volunteers are always at hand to usher everyone in with great efficiency and courtesy. Inside the auditorium, using phones, even as a torch or for messaging is rare.
The screens are adjustable for different aspect ratios in deference to the freedom that filmmakers are exercising these days in playing with the screen dimension. When the film making team joins the screening, they arrive quietly to take their seats in the front row of the back section of the hall. When the film ends, the spotlights are focused on them and everyone in the auditorium stands up and turns towards them to applaud. This applause can go on for as long as 10 minutes. When that happened to the Egyptian director Ibrahim Nasha’at, for his depiction of the Taliban governed contemporary Afghanistan in the film Hollywoodgate, he broke down, leading to even more protracted clapping.
While quite distinctly an Italian carnival, Venice has been known for its American premieres too. My pick this year would be Michel Mann’ Ferrari, a moving biopic on the great Italian car racing legend and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, again a biopic, this time on the supremely talented American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Among the European fare, I enjoyed the World War II sea adventure Comandante by Edoardo De Angelis, and the sensitive El Paraiso by Enrico Artale portraying the nuances of a mother-son relationship that defies death. And then there was the Chilean film El Conde directed by Pablo Larrain, a funny take on General Pinochet, depicting him as a vampire.
For old timers like me, Venice Classics is a heartwarming section because it shows films of one’s younger days after restoring them to near original form. The section features nearly a dozen restored classics. The 1965 masterpiece Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Sergei Parajanov proved to be a big hit under the section.
I have been attending Film Festivals since 1981 and they are always good fun. There are great new films to watch. There are old pals to meet and new ones to make. There is much to discuss and learn. But the biggest joy is the reassurance that cinema is still alive and kicking, 128 years after it was invented.